Nagilla Nikitha (13) was found hanging in a classroom under suspicious circumstances on 6 March at the Nagarkurnool residential school.
Published Mar 10, 2023 | 10:19 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 10, 2023 | 10:20 PM
Thirteen-year-old Class 7 Dalit girl allegedly died by suicide in Amrabad, Nagarkurnool district of Telangana. (Supplied)
Four days after a Class 7 student at the Government Social Welfare School in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana allegedly died by suicide, her family demanded that the authorities conduct the post-mortem examination again.
The 13-year-old Dalit girl, Nagilla Nikitha was a resident of the Vankeswaram village in Amrabad in the Madhura Mandal (block).
She died under suspicious circumstances on 6 March at the residential school.
“We are demanding a post-mortem examination again as we believe the principal and management might have tampered with the earlier one to keep us in the dark. There were bruises on my daughter’s body, including a major one on the head,” Nikitha’s father Buchhiramulu told South First.
He alleged that the hostel management might have hung her from the ceiling of the classroom.
Meanwhile, the Amrabad police registered a case under Section 174 (death under suspicious circumstances) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Speaking to South First, Circle Inspector Kodidala Adireddy refuted the claim that there were bruises on Nikitha’s body.
“We did not see any wound on her body,” he said, adding: “The post-mortem report is yet to come, and the case is under investigation.”
As per local reports, the school management claimed that Nikitha took the extreme step as she was upset over misunderstandings with her friends.
However, the parents protested against the school and accused the principal and the staff of harassing Nikitha.
“Whenever we visited Nikitha in school on the weekends, she complained of the principal and teachers making her and other students clean washrooms and the dining hall, and do other chores at the hostel,” Buchhiramulu claimed.
Laxminarayana, a member of the human rights organisation Kula Nirmulana Porata Samithi (KNPS), told South First, “Her class teacher Gita also scolded and abused her many times, asking her why she even came to school when she could not learn Math and English. She was a sensitive child.”
As per the father, when Nikitha’s mother Lakshmamma questioned the school authorities about this, they responded that Nikitha was not studying.
“We asked them how she gained admission to this school if she does not study. We also asked the authorities to convene a PTM (parent-teachers’ meeting) for to clear up matters, but they never did,” Nikitha’s elder sister Varalakshmi told South First.
The manner in which Nikitha’s body was found in the classroom ceiling was posted on social media by RS Praveen Kumar, the president of the Telangana unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
https://twitter.com/RSPraveenSwaero/status/1632789822849835014?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1632789822849835014%7Ctwgr%5Ed28fa5eaeff35538c081764ed16fbda66dda5936%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.siasat.com%2Ftelangana-class-7-student-of-govt-residential-school-hangs-self-to-death-2541939%2F
Nikitha’s family also alleged that the school administration informed them about the death several hours after it happened.
“She died at 2 pm and the management informed the media and the police first — around 4 pm. But they did not tell the family at all. Why? We got to know from some other sources about our daughter’s death only around 7 pm,” Buchhiramulu said.
The deceased was taken to the Amrabad hospital, where the post-mortem examination was conducted past midnight. The body was subsequently handed over to the family.
Buchhiramulu also said, “It could be murder. Otherwise, they would have informed us first and not others. When we visited the hostel, no one from the management — including the warden — was there.”
Nikitha is survived by her parents, two brothers, and a sister.
